Graphic designers use a standard body of text for placeholder text:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Designers often say, “just flow some greek in.” Or “What’s the body text? There isn’t any yet? I’ll just greek the text for now.” However, it’s not Greek. It’s mangled Latin.
The original passage is from Cicero’s De finibus bonorum et malorum (On the Ends of Goods and Evils, or alternatively [About] The Purposes of Good and Evil ). The passage starts:
Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit (
Translation: “Neither is there anyone who loves grief itself since it is grief and thus wants to obtain it”).
Okay, so what part of the translation is “lorem ipsum?”
• dolorem means: pain, grief. misery, pain
• ipsum means itself
So lorem ipsum means “grief itself.” Or “grief alone.” Next time you have to “flow in some greek” you can say, “OH HOW THIS GRIEVES ME!”